


FFVII Folk Tales: The First Lighthouse

by ixieko



Series: FFVII Folk Tales [9]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Folklore, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-03
Updated: 2016-01-03
Packaged: 2018-05-11 09:54:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5623162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ixieko/pseuds/ixieko
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how people of Gaia built the first lighthouse.</p>
            </blockquote>





	FFVII Folk Tales: The First Lighthouse

In old times, when the northern sea and the continent beyond it were green and warm, on the shore to the north of Anavaren (Mountains on the northern shore of Western continent - M.) a village stood where fishermen lived. Men sailed the sea in their boats, and women stayed in the village, taking care of their homes and raising kids. The sea was kind to people then, because the great water dragon Aen himself looked over them, and winds and ocean currents always brought them safely home.

For years upon years it was like that, but one day, when the men were once again fishing far away from the shore, a great storm from the North came upon the village. The Sun hid in so heavy clouds that the day became as dark as deep night, and huge waves attacked the shore, breaking apart piers and boats. Women, kids and old men who stayed in the village hid in their houses and couldn't come out for days. When the storm finally subsided, they went and looked at the sea, and saw that its surface was now calm, but deserted. No boats were visible on the horizon.

They waited for their husbands, and fathers, and sons to came back, but days passed, and no boat returned. The sky was clear, and the air was still. Before, the ocean currents led by Aen would bring them home, but now the water surface was smooth and evenly coloured, no current visible.  
"Did they all die?" The women asked each other. They couldn't even ask the spirits, for their saman also was in one of the missing boats. But the woman Umil, whose husband and oldest son were out in the sea, said, "We all saw how the saman talk to the spirits, let's do it ourselves, together. Even if the spirits would not listen to one of us, they will hear our united voice."  
But the older woman Ligiry said, "It's not our job to talk to spirits. Our place is in our houses, taking care of them until our husbands return from the sea. The spirits will be angry at us for breaking the rules. Let's not do it."  
Some of the women agreed with her, and some with Umil. Ligiry and those who agreed with her went back to their homes, and Umil took saman's drum and his enchanted herbs, and lit the fire, and sat beside it with those who agreed with her, and they prayed together. Long was their prayer, long the enchanted fire was burning, but the spirits were silent, didn't answer them. Fire burnt out, and the women returned to their homes, not looking at each other.

The next day Umil went to Ligiry and told her, "Don't you want to help your husband? Do you think we should just sit and do nothing, while they are struggling?"  
But Ligiry was adamant. "Our place is in our houses, not in the sea and not on the Path of Spirits. Let others do their part, do yours, and don't interfere with others. Such is the way the world is built."  
A day passed, and Umil again went to Ligiry. "Our husbands may die if we won't help them!" She said. "The old rules were good in old times, but now the world has changed and we cannot follow them anymore."  
But Ligiry closed her ears with her hands and told, "I won't listen to such blasphemy. Go away!"  
Umil went, but at the next dawn she returned and said, "There's ice on the water in the middle of summer. The world has changed, Ligiry, go and see for yourself."  
Ligiry didn't believe her, but went out of her hut and looked at the sea, and saw that the narrow strait between their shore and Churindari was covered with ice, and the air was chilly as if the winter was beginning.  
"Do you see it now?" Umil asked. "We cannot live by old rules. We have to help our men."

And so, both of them gathered other women and took saman's drum and his enchanted herbs, and lit the fire, and sat around it together - old and young, tall and short, light and dark, - and closed their eyes, and prayed to the great water dragon Aen and lesser spirits, such as Urigdan (The spirit of a warm ocean current that flows near the shore. - M.) and Buldyme (The spirit that is believed to create icebergs. - M.), asking them to tell if their loved ones were alive and begging to bring them, if it was possible, safely home.  
Long was their prayer, long the enchanted fire was burning, and finally the water dragon Aen heard their voice and answered them.  
"All the spirits were summoned to fight against the great evil," He said. "I cannot rule the ocean currents while I'm in battle. But I can give your men a small part of myself to bring them to the shore. You should find a way to show them where it is safe to go, for I cannot guide them through shallow places in the harbour."

The fire burnt out, and the Spirit's voice went silent, but now the women knew what they should do. For a few days they searched for a safe place for boats to come near the shore, and when they found it, they set up a post and stood there, taking turns and looking at the sea.  
"But what if they return at night?" Ligiry asked. "They won't see us in the darkness!"  
Umil thought about it, and said, "We should bring a lot of firewood to the shore and light a fire there and keep it on all night until dawn."  
And so they did, and when the boats returned, they followed the bright fire the women lit, and arrived safely to the shore.

The men told that the sea was still all days since the storm, and they were already preparing to die when a small image of Aen arrived and brought wind with it. They were able to set sail and catch the wind, and it brought all the boats together and carried them home, and disappeared only when the shore was close.  
Not everyone has returned, for many was washed off the boats by huge waves, and some were injured and died later, but if not for their women, no one would survive.

The water dragon Aen was not seen by anyone since then; they say he fell in the battle against the great evil of the North, alongside other great spirits of old. The world has changed, it became colder and darker, and never since then it was safe or welcoming to humans.

The people of Northern Anavaren to this day call their lighthouses umil-togo (Umil's fire. - M.), in honor of the woman who invented them.

_(From “The tales of North”, Evan Marius, 1932)_

* * *

"The great evil of the North... Again, Grim. Again there's a mention of some evil magical creature that lived somewhere in the Northern mountains. But to kill Spirits and bring climate changes to the whole region? Even the Cetra could not be capable of doing something like this."  
"Come on, Gast. It's a folk tale of a fairly primitive tribe. For them, any snowstorm in an unusual season would be a climate change, and any high water would be a worldwide flood. As for the spirits, there's no evidence they ever existed, in the first place."  
"But, don't you find it strange that almost every mention of evil and witches is connected to the Northern mountains?"  
"Not at all, Gast. It's simple: north is very cold, and cold is dangerous. Any blizzard which came to them would come from the north, and so they made a logical - for them - conclusion that someone sends these blizzards. And who is evil, and cold, and possesses magic powers? Witch, of course."


End file.
